THERMOMECHANICAL PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF FLAME RETARDANT NATURAL FIBER REINFORCED EPOXY RESIN COMPOSITE FILLED WITH SILICA AEROGELS

Abstract

For decades, composites have been a hot issue for its outstanding advantages. On the other hand, natural fibers are of high strength, heat resistance, relatively inexpensive, easy to handle, ecofriendly and ultra-efficient. Bangladesh cultivates jute, banana and pineapple in large numbers and their usable parts like pseudo stem and leaves are mostly abandoned after collecting the fruits. If we utilize them properly we can reduce the garbage which usually causes pollution, use it in our growing industry and save our environment and resources. In our project, our goal is to manufacture a hybrid composite of banana fiber, pineapple fiber, jute fiber and aerogel of different percentages in powdered form and analyze its mechanical and thermal characteristics. The natural fibers will provide the strength and stiffness to the composite and aerogel will be there as the filler material. The powdered form and short form of fibers have different impacts on the properties of composite materials, when utilized as a component of composite materials. On the other hand, fillers can improve mechanical properties including fire and smoke performance by reducing organic content in composites. In this work, combinations of banana, pineapple and jute fibers were mixed with various percentages of aerogel and epoxy resin with the help of compression method. Tensile test, flexural test, hardness test, flammability test, optical test, electrical conductivity and water absorption tests were done on the composite to analyze its properties. From the result, it was found that adding aerogel reduces heat conductivity and the fabricated composites showed comparative mechanical characteristics.